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Nov82013

Today In Tech - November 8th, 2013

ASUS Launches the ROG Rampage IV Black Edition X79 Motherboard

Based on the Intel X79 Express chipset, the Rampage IV Black Edition includes all of the best ROG technologies and innovations for unrivaled gaming and overclocking performance. With its four PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots, two PCI-E 2.0 x1 slots and eight DIMM slots supporting up to 64 GB of overclocked DDR3 DRAM, the Rampage IV Black Edition has near limitless expansion possibilities, including support for both 4-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX.

Every Rampage IV Black Edition includes a free copy of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, allowing gamers to take advantage of premium ROG hardware and software features right out of the box.

Born to push limits and break records

ASUS designed the Rampage IV Black Edition for those who demand the ultimate feature set. It includes the OC Panel, a real-time system-monitoring and tuning console that is great for gamers and a huge advantage for overclockers. It can be mounted internally for everyday monitoring of temperatures, base clock and fan speeds while also offering one-click CPU Level Up for an instant speed boost. Externally, it can be used to monitor and control multiple parameters in real-time via onboard buttons. Extreme overclocking has never been easier.

Built for the most demanding games and gamers

In order to be able to push the limits, ROG engineers combined thoughtful design with superior quality components.The Rampage IV Black Edition's Extreme Engine DIGI+ III voltage-regulator module (VRM) provides highly precise and stable power delivery by employing NexFET MOSFETs, 60A (amp) chokes and high-endurance Japanese-made 10K black metallic capacitors. The motherboard's black-themed heat-sink is exclusively and cleverly integrated with the MOSFET area to extend to the input/output (I/O) cover for even better cooling and stability.

ROG's Sonic Radar on-screen overlay provides fans of first-person shooter (FPS) games with an ear to the ground, as it displays the precise direction and origin of in-game sounds such as gunshots, footsteps and call-outs - giving ROG gamers a leg-up when trying to pinpoint the enemy.

Ultra-fast Intel Gigabit Ethernet with ROG's GameFirst II utility optimizes network traffic to keep latency to a minimum and reduce all-important ping times. The ROG RAMDisk utility allows up to 80% of a computer's available RAM to be used as a high-speed virtual drive - lending a strong performance boost to many modern games that regularly read or write data during gameplay.

DDR4 Memory To Be Released Next Month

According to Crucial's timeline, DDR4 memory should be coming out by the end of next month. With DDR4, you can expect more efficient modules, more dense modules and speeds that are twice as fast. The lower voltage requirement will allow devices to have longer battery lives, lower energy consumption costs and reduce the overall temperature of the gaming computer. Faster speeds will lead to faster application load times and overall increased ability to handle more intensive tasks.

GIGABYTE Launches G1.Sniper Z87 Motherboard at Blizzcon 2013

GIGABYTE has just announced its latest Z87 motherboard today at Blizzcon. The parts of this motherboard that gamers might find attractive are the included Creative Sound Core and the Killer Network's E2200 ethernet.

Killer™ E2200 from Qualcomm Atheros, a high-performance, adaptive gigabit Ethernet controller that offers better online gaming and online media performance compared to standard solutions. The Killer™ E2200 features Advanced Stream Detect technology, which identifies and prioritizes all network traffic to ensure important applications that require high-speed connectivity are prioritized over less important traffic.

The board also features a multitude of other options such as a USB-DAC, Gold plated audio hardware, high-end capacitors, changeable OP-amps and GIGABYTE's Ultra Durable™ 4 Plus

Xbox One Essentially Unusable Without Day One Update

Picking up a Xbox One on release date? Make sure you have an internet connection as there is not much you can do unless you update the console first. Users will not be able to play any games until they complete the day one software update. With the Xbox One coming out in two weeks and the Playstation 4 coming out next week, things have begun heating up between the two.